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Kangema MP assures resettlement for Murang’a landslide victims
02nd November, 2025 04:19 PM
21 families from Mucoco village in Kangema, Murang’a, who were displaced from their homes by a landslide which destroyed their land, will be resettled.
The families have been living in one of the local churches for the past year, but the government has secured a 20-acre piece of land to settle the families.
Speaking during a funeral service in Gitugu on Saturday, November 1, 2025, Kangema Member of Parliament (MP) Irungu Kihungi said the government is finalising plans to secure land to permanently resettle the affected families.
Kihungi said even if the land may not be big enough as their native one, it is a safe place and they won’t have to worry about the landslides.
“We have secured a parcel of land in a place called Karurumo, where we can settle these families out who have been living in a camp for the past year,” Kihungi remarked.
“Their parcels of land were destroyed and rendered uninhabitable, and we don’t want them to be tempted to go back there,” he added.
The MP said the Ministry of Lands will also ensure the families get ownership documents for the land, adding that the documentation process is underway.
The residents were forced out of their homes after their houses and parcels of land were destroyed by huge cracks that ran deep into the ground.
The cracks started developing in the late 90s but worsened in 2018, forcing some of the residents to relocate to safer grounds.
However, for these 21 families who had nowhere else to go, they stayed back but were forced out last year when the cracks destroyed their houses and their land cut into pieces, making it uninhabitable. Water coming from underground made the situation worse.
Unsafe for occupation
A geological survey conducted in the area declared the place unsafe, and the residents were warned against going back to their homes. With fresh cracks emerging, they fear that the village will eventually sink.
The relocation will be a sigh of relief to these families, who claim their lives came to a standstill as they lost their entire livelihood.
Simon Irungu, one of the residents, said they have been relying on well-wishers for basic needs because their livelihood was lost.
“We used to farm and get produce to sell to sustain our livelihood and never begged for food, but now we are forced to rely on other people to eat,” he said.
“I saw part of the land sliding away, and it really scared me because this area is full of cracks and not even a single portion is safe for us to stay,” added Irungu.
Lucy Mwihaki, another resident, said living in the camp has become a nightmare for them as they are living in squeezed spaces.
“We only go there to check on the livestock that we left behind, and they are also not safe because landslides can occur anytime,” said Mwihaki.
Wilson Njoroge laments that his tea and coffee bushes, which were a source of livelihood, were swept away by the landslides, and now he can barely afford to meet the basic needs of his family.
“I have children in school and can barely afford to raise the fee, even getting money to go to the hospital when one gets sick is a toll order,” said Njoroge.
“Our lives came to a standstill, and we have no money to buy new parcels of land for relocation, thus our appeal to the government to intervene in our situation,” he added.
Murang’a is one of the counties that is prone to landslides, especially in areas with steep topography.
Perennial calamities in the area have seen tens of lives lost, property worth millions of shillings destroyed, and their land rendered uninhabitable.
